HR5183-119

What This Bill Does

This bill tightens congressional control over District of Columbia lawmaking and executive action under the Home Rule Act. It replaces the shorter congressional review window for some District laws with a uniform 60-day period measured around House and Senate adjournments. It removes a prior paragraph and narrows emergency-act treatment so an extension or substantially similar act cannot keep avoiding ordinary congressional review.

The bill rewrites expedited procedures for House and Senate resolutions disapproving Council actions. It lets Congress disapprove individual provisions of a DC act rather than only the entire act. It also creates a new section 605 requiring the DC Mayor to transmit executive orders and executive-branch regulations to Congress, delaying their effect for 60 days unless the order or regulation sets a later date and allowing a joint resolution of disapproval to repeal them. The bill prevents the Council from withdrawing an act once transmitted, bars substantially similar retransmissions after a congressional disapproval unless a later federal law authorizes them, and requires the DC Mayor and Council Chair to appear annually before House and Senate oversight committees with a report on the state of the District.

Who Benefits and How

U.S. Congress benefits from more time and more tools to review DC acts, provisions, executive orders, and regulations. The House Oversight Committee and Senate Homeland Security Committee benefit from explicit annual hearings with DC leaders. Members seeking to block specific DC policies benefit because they can target provisions and mayoral actions rather than only whole Council acts. DC residents who oppose particular Council or mayoral policies benefit from an added federal review channel. Congressional oversight staff benefit from formal transmission and timing rules.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The District of Columbia Council bears a major burden because its acts face a longer review period, cannot be withdrawn after transmission, and cannot be reintroduced in substantially similar form after disapproval without new congressional authorization. The DC Mayor and district executive branch agencies must transmit executive orders and regulations and wait through a federal review window. DC residents who support home rule bear a burden because local policies can be delayed, partially disapproved, or repealed by Congress. DC business and nonprofit groups face more uncertainty while local laws and regulations await federal review. DC Council staff must prepare for annual hearings and track the new procedural limits.

Key Provisions

• Replaces the Home Rule Act review period with a uniform 60-day congressional review period for DC laws.
• Rewrites expedited House and Senate procedures for resolutions disapproving Council action.
• Allows Congress to disapprove individual provisions of a DC act without repealing the rest of the act.
• Requires the DC Mayor to transmit executive orders and executive-branch regulations for congressional review.
• Prohibits the DC Council from withdrawing transmitted acts during the review period.
• Bars substantially similar DC acts after congressional disapproval unless Congress later authorizes them.
• Requires annual hearings where the DC Mayor and Council Chair report on the state of the District.